


What If He Lived

by EgaleOne



Series: Life Isn't All It's Cracked Up To Be. [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dreams and Nightmares, Fluff, Gen, Harrow's alive..., I guess... But if you haven't seen it what are you doing?, One Shot, Post Season 3, Short One Shot, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:27:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26815840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EgaleOne/pseuds/EgaleOne
Summary: What if Harrow had survived but in a comatose state. What would be his sons reaction and how would they explain the past six years to a man out of time? How would one even go about explaining the wars, primal energy, engagement, kingship, and death? How could someone explain all of it to a king who thought it would only affect himself if he'd died.
Relationships: Callum & Ezran & Harrow (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Ezran & Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Ezran (The Dragon Prince), Callum & Harrow (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Series: Life Isn't All It's Cracked Up To Be. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944625
Comments: 1
Kudos: 35





	What If He Lived

What if Harrow hadn’t died? What if he had instead been put into a coma for several months if not years…

Waking up to one of his sons being a well-established king and the other being an archmage with the power of six different primal sources. Both sons having gone on an adventure to save the world from its impending war.

Finding out that one of your sons is engaged to an elf of all things. Nonetheless, having to accept that fact. Then only to find out that they’d met because of an attempt on your other son's life. That would be a crazy, if not a blatant lie on all accounts.

But even more, the information would come to the king's ears. Finding out that your most trusted advisor and friend. Had been the one to take over in your place, attempted to kill your children, tried, and failed to take over Xadia… TWICE. Might someone add, was even more far fetched.

Yet, that was what Harrow was being told. Unable to even begin to understand what was coming in one ear and out the other. Harrow was shaken, to say the least.

No one had expected the king to even be able to survive. Hell, no one even knew if it was possible. And yet, the once thought dead king had returned to the mortal world. Much to the shock of several and the even more shock of those he’d consider family.

However, the man himself had been in greater shock than those he considered family. For the reasons above, he’d been more than shocked. His son had taken his place and done so with great pace and stride. His other son had come out of his shell and grown to be so much more. And yet, he’d done something no other human had ever done.

Then there was Rayla, an elf of all things. He’d never expected Callum to… However, if anything had ingrained itself into Harrow’s brain. It was that love conquered all, that together people were strong and apart they’d fall. Callum’s face had been happier than he’d ever seen it.

The elf’s face had been one of great surprise, he’d even seen the regret buried within it. However, the past was the past for all he carried and greeted the young elf with a smile.

“Hello, Um… Everything is so different from how I left it? What happened…” The eyes of the group who surrounded the great king were larger than ever thought possible. Ezran had nearly choked on his own spit while his eyes continued to dilate. Flickering as they tried to process what was in front of them.

“You can’t be… How are you?” Ezran had finally mustered enough energy and power to ask the simple question.

“I don’t know. I awoke from the med area and, what has happened?” The three looked at one another, unsure of what to say… Unsure if the person in front of them was even real.

“Are you even him? Tell me something only our father would know?” Callum’s voice wavered with the sound of hope and dismay wrapped amongst itself. The man thought for a second, trying to think of what only he and the two knew.

“Bait likes belly rubs and I told you to find the Aaravos’ key in the game room at the Banther Lodge. Speaking of which, why aren’t you there? And why is an elven girl in the kingdom?” Callum breathed a sigh of relief, while Ezran’s face turned up in an awkward sort of miss informed smile.

“Ohh, um. What do you remember last?” Harrow gave a small shrug and thought back to what he could think of, unsure of what was in fact real and what was fake.

“I remember getting cut on my neck and then blacking out… After that, I can’t remember anything.”Callum let go of a slow heavy breath. He wasn’t sure what to think.

“Well, that was five years ago? No, maybe it was six. It’s been a while.” Callum rubbed the back of his neck and thought for a moment, still very unsure of what to say or do next. The other two were in much the same boat.

“I guess we’ll take turns catching him up on what’s all happened.” Callum had turned to Ezran who only nodded in his brother's direction. Ezran had more or less self volunteered to go first and so, it began.

“So, after you’d told us to leave and head to the Banther Lodge. We had met Rayla who was sent here to kill me. She’d gotten to Callum and he’d faked being me to protect me from Rayla. She’s a good person we promise…” Harrow gave the girl a very… VERY judgemental look of disapproval.

“So, after that, I accidentally stepped in and saved Callum, I accidentally found the Dragon prince’s egg… Which I might add that he’s doing quite well. After that, we ran away from home in order to return the egg. Traveling across the world to the Spire. All along the way we faced different foes and things we never ever expected to get into. I was forced to leave halfway through after learning of your death and these two.” Ezran happily pointed to Callum and Rayla.

“We're forced to carry on. Viren all the while had more or less taken over the kingdom and was trying to take over all of Xadia. After I had returned home, one of the other kingdoms had come to ask for help in a war against Xaida which I as of course refused to do. I was forced to more or less abdicate the throne. Viren took control, I was thrown into the dungeon and Soren helped me escape. Soren’s cool too.” Harrow rolled his eyes, if Viren was bad then it was definitely news to him. His son couldn’t have been munich better… Or could he.

“Thanks to Soren I was able to get back to the Spire and help fight against Viren and his forces. Viren was trying to take the life energy out of the Dragon Prince for his own gain. More or less putting an end to the dragon monarchy. We as of course succeed in doing so. However, I’m going to let Callum sort out the rest…” Ezran looked at Callum with a smile and more or less gave a nodded for the boy to start.

“Oh um, well after Ezran left, me and Rayla continued our journey. We traveled through Zadia, fell in love, got stuck in the desert. Found the bitc… Found the Sky elf who left us stuck in the desert. She’d also taken Zym… The Dragon Prince. After that ordeal, me and Rayla made our way to the Storm Spire where we met back up with Ez. Then climbed the spire, found out that the Queen of dragons was still asleep due to her traumatic loss. Aunt Amaya met up with us, along with the Sunfire elves who Viren attacked. He’d taken the power of their primal source to use against them. Corrupting them and his army into some kind of half-person half-monster hybrid. It was really weird.” Harrow grimaced at the thought of what that could look like.

“Then the big fight came and we nearly lost, after the major battle at the base of the spire had been just a diversion. Viren had nearly killed Zym. However, Zym had tried to flee and nearly flew off. Yet, Viren stopped him at the top of the tower. But Rayla… Rayla tackled Viren off the Spire and they both fell. I… I’d been able to do sky magic since halfway through our journey. I jumped after her and was able to catch her using sky wings. We were all safe for the time being. We were together. However, that wasn’t all that happened. After the battle, there was relative peace between our nations. Aunt Amamya and the Sunfire elf queen had gone on diplomatic tours to normalize tensions between the two nations. However, it wasn’t enough.” Harrow nodded for Callum to continue.

“Me and Rayla had been gone for several months. Thanks to Janai the Sunfire elf Queen, I was able to connect to the Fire primal source. And with that knowledge, I decided to see if I could connect to the others. And I was able to do it. Me and Rayla began to tour the land of Xaida looking for teachers for me while she tried to find her purpose.” Callum smiled at Rayla, she still felt as if she had no room or reason to speak to the King… She’d nearly killed his sons.

“I was able to connect to all of them after some time. But, unfortunately for us, something grew in the background as we tried to piece back together a broken world.” Harrow raised an eyebrow at Callum while the three teens all grimaced at the thought.

Ezran decided to take over from there, noticing how Callum had become filled with regret and sorrow almost. “Something else had grown in the shadows of their adventure. I was unaware of it two. However, people from all nations began to disappear. Out of thin air, an entire town would be gone. Kingdoms themselves would be left with nothing but desolate streets. We didn’t have an explanation for it. We thought some monster was taking them but no… It was worse.” Harrow raised an eyebrow at the boy and leaned in closer as if the words would be hushed and low.

“Cladia had brought Viren back from death. Using dark magic to sustain him and keep him in some form of comatose life. Aaraovos, a powerful Mage, had been calling the shots from the beginning. He had been trapped in a mirror of hundreds of years and yet Viren let him out. Aaravos was the only person or elf in history to ever control all six primary sources. However, he wasn’t afraid of dark magic either. Aarravos had turned the people of both nations into something that was so unrecognizable and so…” Ezran couldn’t even finish, there were no words to describe it.

Callum picked back up where Ezran was unable to finish, he’d finally come out of a worried filled mind. “Aarovos had turned the people of Xadia and Katolis into monsters of darkness. A combination of all six primal sources mixed with dark magic. However, in the end, I was able to defeat Aarovos… I had to resort to using dark magic to do so, stepping down to his level and using his own power against him. It nearly ripped me in two and I regret using dark magic. But there was nothing I could do… Ez had nearly been killed and Rayla had…” He remembered her face as she laid against the ground… He’d thought she’d died that day once again. The image sending him into a blind rage that could have destroyed the entire world if he’d let it go too far.

Their lives had never been easy, they’d never wished for it to go the way it had. Never wished to be the so-called saviors of the realm. And yet that was what they’d become. Ezran had become king and Callum had found who he was. Rayla had been there for what sounded like the worst of times, sticking by the two the best she could.

And yet, Harrow felt so disconnected from his own sons. Unable to be there for them, silently promising himself throughout the whole ordeal that he’d be there. Be there from now on for whatever they need. Smiling at the three in front of them and blinking as if to register the pile of information he’d just received.

“I couldn’t imagine… I can’t believe I left you to deal with this. My bad decisions led to the near murder of my own sons. I started a war that could have destroyed the world…” Harrow’s heart was swept with pain and his conscience had smacked him across the face… He had caused some of the biggest atrocities in centuries.

“It’s not all bad… Dad. We wouldn’t be who we are today if it wasn’t for you. I would have never been able to master the primal source. EZ wouldn’t be the amazing king he is. Rayla would have been off who knows where doing who knows what… We’re happy to have each other.” Callum placed his arms around his family and pulled them tight. They had stuck together through thick and thin and Harrow had led them there.

It was just too bad this was only a thought… Only a wish he’d had in his dreams. A wish that his step-father had returned to them. Returned to see that he’d done something amazing. That he’d set in motion events that let so much happen. Callum smiled as he rolled over in bed. Another nightmare once again taking shape in his head. But the happiness that weld in his heart as he looked at the small smile on his fiancée's sleeping face had relieved a small bit of worriedness. He was happy, but he wished his _dad_ could see them now.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to leave comment's kudos and likes. I hope you all enjoyed it because I enjoyed writing this. It's not something I've seen done and thought it would make an interesting one-shot idea. :P


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